Bottle (as Buckinghamshire Ale by M&S): Clean, lively carbonation, huge fluffy to rocky off-white head, fruity and malty nose with a distinctive dash of hops in the background; solid sweet (-malty) bitter flavour, soft MF; lingering soft hoppy and malty finish. Decent, pleasant stuff..........

Cask handpull at Thomas Ingoldsby, JDW, Canterbury. Gold/copper colour with thin off white head. Slight yeast/earthy aroma. OK English earthy bitter.

[i] Cask at Merton Summer Festival, September 2004 [/i] Going back through my travel log and Merton Beer Festival information tonight and picking up those that had escaped. Never one of my favourite Vale beers but nonetheless it’s fine enough. Pours pretty much black with little head to speak of. Dry roasted malty taste but a bit too thin and watery for me to really get much from. [i] [b] Had this again at the Nut Tree, Murcott, Oxon, 09-03-08 [/i] [/b] This tasted a much better and more rounded beer than I’d had before, it’s still quite subtle and at times a bit thin but there were some really nice well done roasted flavours going on here and nice coffee and cocoa flavours to balance things out score on this occasion is [i] [b] 3.3 [/i] [/b] --- Beer merged from original tick of Black Beauty Vanilla Porter on 01 Dec 2011 at 00:46 - Score: Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7. Original review text: Cask,handpump at The Hop Pole, Aylesbury, Bucks Pours black with light beige creamy head, ruby glints. Touch roasty but with big vanilla flavours, bit creamy, dry at end, main thoughts are roasty and creamy. An interesting take on and also slight improvement on what was already a decent beer. A6 A4 T7 P3 Ov14 3.4

Bottle, M&S. Light grassy aromatic and lightly roasted nose. Dark amber, off-white creamy layer. Roasted and fairly smoky malt base, aromatic english hops, wood, a little bit metal, orangepeel. Medium to light body, slick mouthfeel. Smoke and clay retronasal, overaid by citric hops. I quite liked this one actually, would love to try it on cask.

[i]Cask/Gravity at The Swan Beer Festival, Islip 05-10-07[/i] Dark brown in appearance with no discernible head, bit thin but some roasted malts and coffee fruity flurry, ok.

Cask @ Quinns, Kentish Town. Pours a clear pale golden color with a small white head. Fruity malty hoppy aroma. Sweet smooth malty and hoppy flavor with some hints of citrus. Malty and hoppy bitter finish, with a dry bitter aftertaste.

500ml bottle from M&S, London Bridge Station. Chestnut colour with thin beige head. Wow, this is one of the best BCAs I’ve had. Malty, dry malt aroma, very moderate fruit, good malts in mouth, some fizzy hop on finish, but this could have been served in a pub. Good malts, could do with more hop. Moderately good best bitter.
Earlier Rating: 3/14/2006 Total Score: 3.3
Cask handpull at Wenlock. Chestnut colour with thin beige head. Fine bitter, some toffee, some earthy hop. Got a bit more kick to it. Good hop malt mix. Finish has some dry malt along with the good hop. Some sherbert

Cask @ Lamb & Flag, Oxford. Pours a black color with an off-white head. Fruity malty and slightly roasted aroma. Sweet roasted malty and fruity flavor with some hints of coffee and chocolate. Roasted malty finish with some hints of chocolate in the aftertaste.

Cask @ Far From the Madding crowd, Oxford. Pours a dark amber color with a small off-white head. Fruity malty aroma with some hoppy hints. Fruity malty and hoppy caramel flavor. Long malty finish with a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Cask@GBBF2007. Clear golden colour, not much white head. Aroma is fruity hops along with some wood and slight barnyardy hints. Flavour is hoppy, grassy and slightly earthy.